Michelin bids to acquire all shares in SIPH

Paris – Groupe Michelin has filed a public tender offer in France to acquire 1,042,324 shares in natural rubber producer Société Internationale de Plantations d'Hévéas (SIPH) not currently under its control.

The cash offer of €85 per share was issued through 99.99%-owned subsidiary Compagnie Financière Michelin SCmA (CFM), “acting in concert” with the Ivory Coast company SIFCA, the tire maker said 6 June.

CFM and SIFCA “respectively hold 23.81% and 55.59% of SIPH's capital and 25.33% and 62.89% of the voting rights and, in concert, 79.40% of SIPH's capital and 88.22% of the voting rights,” noted Michelin.

The offer price represents a 41.8% premium on the last closing SIPH share price on 5 June.

“The primary aim of the friendly offer is to enable CFM and SIFCA to strengthen their ties and raise their stake in SIPH's capital,” said Michelin.

This, it added, is in light of the “increasingly important role that West Africa is playing in global natural rubber production against a backdrop of intensified competition between the players in these markets.”

On 6 June, France-based SIPH’s board of directors unanimously decided to issue a favourable opinion on the offer, according to Michelin’s statement.